


Relena Strikes Back

by Izzu



Category: Gundam Wing
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2003-04-03
Updated: 2003-04-03
Packaged: 2017-11-08 07:47:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 6,005
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/440879
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Izzu/pseuds/Izzu
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Started after the war, what happens if one day Heero was kidnapped and Relena has to come save him... Rewritten to match my current style. On long hiatus.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Fleeting concern

Darlian Estate - January After Colony 196 -

Pargan looked at the ancient clock anxiously, waiting for him.  _Where is he... he should have arrived now!_ Pargan paced back and forth again.

DINGDONG!

Pargan stopped in his tracks.  _He's here...,_  hethought as he heard the sound of the door opened and feet rushing over him. The door of the room Pargan's in opened. He turned and smiled as he saw the person standing at the entrance, a beautiful 16-year-old boy panting as he took a seat near him. Concern painted all over his face as he regained his composure.

Pargan chuckled, as he offered a cup of tea to him. 'Drink this, slowly. You must have been rushing to get here... I glad that you are so concerned of the mistress...', he said as he too, sipped his tea. The boy looked up to him, puzzled, clearly wanted to know the meaning of that remark. Pargan laughed, 'I'm glad she had friends who care for her. Especially you... right? Oh, don't bother with me... I'm just an old man.'

The boy looked back down and kept silent, his cheeks turned light pink at the slight tease. Noticing this, Pargan thought deeply...

_Was this the same boy that Miss Relena had been telling me all the time, who frequently tried to kill her? Heh, she must have been influencing him so much, because I can't relate this boy as the one she described._

And then suddenly, he noticed...  _Heero Yuy. Yes, he and Miss Relena was very much alike. Why, seeing him is like seeing the old Princess Relena again, back before she first met Zechs. How amazing it is, that both of them had formed such unlikely friendship with each other..._ Pargan thought sadly, he knew that the mobile suit war had a part on making their lives, these innocent children's lives miserable.  _If only this war not exist..._

Heero put down his cup. 'Why did you called me? Certainly not to say just this words... and just staring at me like that, right?', Heero asked plainly. Pargan nodded his head. 'Yes, it was about Miss Relena.'

Heero kept still. He quickly looked down towards the carpeted floor, unable to imagine what more trouble she had caused.

'Is... is she all right?', he asked almost timidly. Pargan took a sip and replaced the cup onto the table. 'Yes, and no...', the old man replied. Heero quickly raised his head, 'Umm... what? What do you mean?'

'She's now at St. Gabriel alone and I'm worried of her safety. After Milliard or Zechs, if you prefer to call him, went missing that day, Miss Relena always went out alone when she's not on duty...', Pargan started explaining. Heero rolled his eyes, 'Why? Is that a problem? I don't think going out alone is that bad...', said Heero plainly as he wondered if Relena will ever live like normal girl anymore.

'But not for Miss Relena!', stressed Pargan, 'During times like this, she should never go out alone, especially after that rumor...'

His eyes shot up. 'What rumor?', Heero said as he straightened himself up, 'The war is over. No, too early to say that but still she should be ok, right?'

Pargan shook his head. 'No. Not when there's rumors of Anti-Earth and White Fang factions still free. I'm worried, if anything were to happen to her that conference would not succeed...'

Heero blinked. 'Conference?'

The old man eased himself on the chair. 'A conference to discuss new ideas to improve the policies of the Earth Sphere Unified Nation. This matter is very important as the policies had not totally completed yet...'

And then the reasoning reached him. 'Oh, I see. They would have wanted the Total Pacifism Policies to be abolished and to do that-hey, didn't you ever tried convincing her not to go out freely?', he asked. Obviously if he was that worried over her he shouldn't have-

The old man sighed. 'I've tried... but she didn't listen. But I don't blame Miss Relena. She had been in low spirit these few months... with the war, and her brother...'

Heero rose from his seat and walked to the door, 'Then, I'll just have to go and convince her!  _Stupid girl... why everytime I had to fix everything that you do..._ ', he muttered annoyingly as he went out. Pargan just smiled.

xxx

St. Gabriel, hillside

Relena stared into the farther horizon as she wondered over the events that had happened before.

_St. Gabriel. Where it all started. The place where I met the people that changed my life._

Relena sighed, remembering the things that had happened before. This is the place where she had encounter Heero for the second time, where he had said to her that he would kill her. The place where she had met Dorothy Catalonia.

 _Also the place, where I met the boy who had caused me to regain my memory, of that fire that destroy Sanq kingdom long ago._  Relena kept on looking at the building and was startled when she heard the voice behind her.

'Thinking about the past?', Heero asked. Relena turned towards Heero. 'Heero...', she cried as she rushed towards him and embraced him, '...how in the world do you found me? I missed you... so much!', Heero looked at her closely, the girl whom he had grown to care much about.

He pulled her from the embrace, frowning. 'That doesn't mean you can recklessly abandon your safety and gone out without company!' Relena quickly released herself from Heero. 'Oh, guess Pargan decided to call you to find me...'

Relena went to a boulder nearby, took her things and the teddy bear she had had brought along. 'I'm human too! I need time to be by myself. To ease the stress I felt. You don't know the burden I had felt while trying to reshape the government right now. As Vice Foreign Minister!'

Tears gently flows on her cheeks. 'Even now, not everyone wanted peace...' Heero came closer and noticed the teddy bear she held, the one he had given her a month ago. 'Hey, you don't have to take it to youself all the burden. Remember, you still have Quatre and Dorothy to back you up. And also you have the Preventers, Lady Une, Noin and Sally...' , he said.

'But they had their own responsibilities! I- I'm tired... But I can't rest while there's still things to do.. '

Heero pulled her towards him.

'No, don't think like that! You can't do your duty if you don't stop to rest. Do it slowly, trust yourself. And anyway I need to take you home right now... It's safer...', Heero said as he took her hands. Relena let go of him. 'I'll go home myself, thank you! Did Pargan told you about the rumor? Ooh, I get it. You think I can't take care of myself? Okay, I'll show you-! I'll go home myself!', she snapped as Relena turned around and left Heero.

'Do as you like, it's  _YOUR_  safety-', Heero started to say. Relena turned, 'And where had I heard such similar sentence before...?', and continued on her way.

'Relena wait-!', Heero called, regreting his words but she didn't respond. He sighed and kicked a small boulder beside him, 'Relena... why are you so stubborn! So much like that that idiot Zechs... oh!', he mused as he saw Relena's teddy bear and took it.

 _She's forgotten this,_  he thought as Heero walked back towards the Darlian's estate while he reminisced about the painful memories involving that teddy bear. Of how he had accidentally caused the death of a girl and her dog during one of his mission. A girl so fragile... so much like Relena. He had failed to protect that little girl. But he won't allow anything to fall to Relena!

The thought had occupied him so much that it distracted him to the point that he didn't realized he was being followed until it was too late!

Heero tensed, 'Come out! I know you're out there! What do you want?' At his call, four men in black emerges from around him. One of them spoke, 'We want you!'

Heero gasped, feigning ignorance. 'Huh? For what! I don't know you guys!', he answered back as he backed away. 'Don't try to deny it. We know you're the Wing Gundam pilot, that's why we're taking you in!' The four men came closing in on him. Heero hissed as he looked around for an escape route.  _Yes! Saw it!_ , he thought as he took out his gun, shot the man in front of him and jump towards a tree branch.

He quickly disappeared. The leader followed him behind and fired a shot at him. The shot hit him on his sides. Suddenly feeling dizzy, he jumped to the ground and ran. As he ran, he could see the Darlian's estate in the distance. He felt a surge of hope at the fact he might be able to lose his pursuers but sudden bout of dizziness alarmed him. He stumbled to the ground. The teddy bear that he had been holding tight, slipped away. He tried to get up again but his strength left him.

 _Damn! Tranquilizer bullets,_ he thought as he felt his sides. Heero tried crawling towards the estate as he saw the four men come, smiling as their target had been surrounded and paralyzed. Before he passed out, he desperately shouted for Relena, to no avail...


	2. Discerning Worries

Darlian's estate...

Relena gently massages her ankle. Surprised at the fact that she had slipped while going up the stairs. And she had never slipped from these stairs before!

Pargan rushed over to help. She suddenly felt awful as Pargan helped her up, not because of her ankle but because she felt that she heard Heero calling to her. It was bad anough that she had left him back there, when he had obviously came for her. She quickly dismissed that feeling as she entered her room.

She had been deeply in thought when she was later interrupted by yet another visitor. It was Duo. At first, she had liked to greet him happily, but seeing his serious face stopped her in her tracks.

'What is it? What's the matter?', she said as she rushed after him.

Duo burst out. 'Relena, had you seen Heero?', he cried, holding Relena by the shoulder. Relena was startled, 'Yeah, but...'

'When is it? Where? Was he here?'

Relena stuttered as she shook her head. '-no, an hour ago. At St. Gabriel. And he's not here! Why, has anything happened to him?', she exclaimed in shock.

Duo slowly released his grip and sat on the chair. Relena followed suit. 'What's the matter? You looked awful...',

Duo shook his head. 'A few minutes ago, I received an anonymous e-mail saying that they had one of the Gundam pilots with them. They demanded the Gundams, in exchange for the pilot's life. I was so worried, that I called the others to make sure they're all right. All but Heero answered. They also received that same e-mail and neither of us managed to contact Heero. And then, Quatre told me that he remembered Pargan asking his help to contact Heero before and I thought I would find him here.'

Relena looked down, suddenly feeling guilty.

'Oh, that's why... umm, but maybe there's nothing wrong. Heero could take care of himself...', she said, more to herself that to Duo.

Duo sighed and rose, deciding that it's time to leave, 'I guessed you're right. Probably just a rouse to fool us into handing over the Gundams...', he said. Relena accompanied him out. 'But if you have news about him, don't forget to call me...', he said. Relena just nodded as Duo left on his jeep.

XXX

Relena took a deep breath as she closed the door to her room. She opened her window and looked out. 'Heero...', and subconsciously, her hand searched over the small table on which she had always placed her teddy bear, the birthday gift from Heero. Relena jumped as she realised it was not there. She turned around at the bare table.  _It's_ gone, she thought in alarm.  _It's- ah, probably Heero has it! And he must have still waited for me! Silly me..._

Relena immediately ran and went out towards the hills. Pargan, who was at the time washing the car, called out to her but she just ran and ignored him. Relena's heart thumped even faster. She quickly remembered her feeling few hours ago, of hearing Heero's call...

 _Heero... you must be all right! Please... be all right,_ she thought as she ran.

Relena ran through the woods, her shortcut towards St. Gabriel. And then, there was a flash of light and she stopped short. It was a gun, the type Heero always used. She looked around, saw the teddy and took both things.  _But where's Heero...,_ she thought suddenly feeling uneasy. As she was holding her teddy, she felt something wet on it. She examined it and dreaded what she saw. It was blood!

'Oh no, it can't be-!', she gasped as she turned around. 'Heero-! Where are you!-!', she shouted, as she held tight on the teddy bear as if it was Heero's life.

XXX

_Relena..._

Heero opened his eyes.  _Uh, where am I...? It's so dark...,_  he thought. He then tried moving his arms and legs, but he couldn't.  _I'm all tied up_..., he began to realized as the past events returned into his mind. A door in front of him opened as a shadow of a man came in. Lights were turned on in an instant as Heero flinched, for the sudden burst of light almost blinded him. Few more men came in. The first one took a chair and sat in front of him. Heero made a face, as the man, apparently their leader stared at him.

'What! Never seen a kid before?' he asked, mockingly as he rolled his eyes at him.

The man chuckled, 'Hah, I never knew you could joke...' Heero smiled, suddenly having a wicked mind to retort back. 'I learnt it from a friend. Good thing to have some sense of humor in the kind of world we had to live with now-'

The man was amused. 'I see. Brave boy...', he said as he suddenly he grasp Heero's shirt by the neck. 'Tell me where you hid your Gundams! I want it and I want it so!'

Heero remained motionless. 'What are you talking about? I don't... hide any Gundam or whatever you called it...'

The man went furious in anger and almost choke Heero to death. Still, Heero didn't make any reaction. Instead he had hoped that he'd just wheeled over dead and their efforts goes to nothing. The man slowly let go of Heero. Heero fall back on the chair which he was put to.

'Foolish... But even though you deny your identity, I still know who you are! We were... among the men of White Fang and I recognize you as one of the Gundam pilots. Very well. I already told your friends that we had you hostage. If you don't give up your Gundam, they will. Hmmh, otherwise, you're dead.'

Heero smiled, 'I don't care if I die... The others won't give you anything regardless what you say to them. They aren't worth much if they go as far as obeying the likes of stupid you! And I know them not like that! Anyway, life is cheap, especially mine...', he said. This angered the man as he flung the wooden chair towards Heero...


	3. Incoming threats

Trowa paced to and fro. Clearly he was worried and so were the other occupants in the room. Quatre was busy analyzing the Peacecraft database in search for any traces of Heero. Wu Fei practically asleep while Duo kept bugging Trowa and Relena, who had been very quiet ever since they had regrouped to the Darlian's estate. Relena had before, contacted Duo and the others after her finding over Heero's gun and her blood-stained bear. And they were still not sure whether Heero had really been captured or not. No more e-mail had came following the earlier one.

Suddenly, Quatre's laptop beeped. Everyone in the room jumped in surprise. Trowa, Relena, Duo and Wu Fei rushed to Quatre's side. 'What is it-?', Duo asked as he tried to look closely.

Quatre pushed Duo's head aside, 'It's a video transmission, stupid! Shhh... back away! I almost out of air!' A screen popped up, revealing a man in mask. 'Greetings... I believe all of you were the remaining Gundam pilots...'

'What do you want-?', Quatre shouted. The man merely laughed, 'I already asked you... the Gundams! And perhaps your services also-', he said as he chuckled. Quatre gritted his teeth.

'Never... you son of a-', Duo shouted as Trowa tried to refrain him. Wu Fei cut in, 'No way we would ever surrender our Gundams to you and you're certainly won't have your hands on my Nataku!'

The man remained undisturbed. 'I guess I need to convince all of you how serious I am...', he said as he backed away and pulled a chair, holding a boy. Relena gasped.

'I believe you know this person...' , as he pulled Heero's head up to reveal his blood-stained face. After that, he let Heero go and faced the screen again, 'He was one of you... and also the one who had destroyed the spaceship Libra. He had refused to do our bidding and so, I just had to give him a present...'

Relena tried to push Duo aside but both him and Trowa pulled her away. Trowa signaled for her to be quiet. 'So you have Heero, but that still didn't convince us to hand over the Gundams...' , Quatre answered coldly.

'You refused to save him?' the man said, surprised, 'Oh, you must have been trained to face such situations... umm, let's see... how about this, I guessed all of you knew about the deceased colonist, Heero Yuy. When he was killed, the peace between the colonies and earth has been severed. And what do you think would happened now if  _this_  Heero Yuy was killed? And also, along with Relena Peacecraft!'

Hearing Relena's name caused Heero to regain his consciousness. He looked up to the viewscreen. The man continued, 'I give all of you ten days to think about this. By then, if you still refused, we will bomb this young man, along with Miss Peacecraft and the other colonies and earth leaders! I believe you understand what I meant, aren't you-? Honorable Princess, Relena Peacecraft?'

Heero gasped as he saw Relena came out from behind Duo and Quatre. 'Even if you kill us all, I won't let you get what you want, be it the Gundams or the control of the Earth Sphere United Nations!'

The man jumped, obviously surprised hearing that coming from her.

'Brave words, especially if it comes from you.' Relena leered, 'Such threats doesn't affect me. I got it almost everyday during the war...' Heero smiled and mouthed something to Relena, who saw him awake. 'We'll see about that...', the man said before he ended the transmission. Quatre just continued staring at the empty screen in anger.

XXX

'You won't get anything by killing me or Relena...', Heero said coldly at the man.

The man turned towards him and sneered. 'I don't think so _... space heart_. I heard Zechs Marquis called you that. Huh! I can imagine the impact! Killing you and Relena Peacecraft would certainly turn this  _peace_ into chaos! Without both of you to represent the hope of the late Heero Yuy and the Peacecraft legacy, the people's spirit will fade. At that time, it'll be easy for us to gain control!', laughed the man.

Heero smiled back, 'I don't believe you can do that... By now, Relena will be heavily protected. You won't have any chance getting anywhere near her!'

The man sighed and stood in front of Heero. 'Poor child... I maybe just one of the ex-soldiers of White Fang but I had already organized my plan perfectly. Ah... Heero Yuy, do you know where we are now-?', he said as he opened his arms wide.

'This was a former OZ military base. The very place to be used for the peace conference led by your precious Relena Peacecraft! It was arranged by us that the conference will be done here!'

Heero gasped, his mind quickly pieced every puzzle together as he realized what was the enemy big plan..

Just at that moment, another man came to meet the leader. 'Sergeant Briggs, we found several mobile suits still in good condition...'

Sergeant Briggs looked interested. 'Really? See that its weaponry is useable. I think our position's improving... you're dismissed.' The man left.

'Sergeant...huh? I never knew White Fang has ranks like these...', Heero mocked. ' A rank as I got from joining the Alliance. Oh, well... seems that you had much to worry about, heh? Men, take this  _pilot_ to his cell-' Sergeant Reeve laughed again, as Heero was taken away.


	4. The Plan

Quatre closed his notebook. 'Well, that's  _it_  I guess...', he sighed as he stretched himself out.

Trowa, Relena and Duo made a face. 'What's  _it?-!_ ' , they said altogether, simultaniously - while showing him the most puzzled face he'd ever saw...

Quatre continued looking at the three of them and laughed hysterically. 'Waii... so funny... you three are so- weird!' Relena snapped and pinched him, 'Stop it, now's not time to joke around...', she said while trying hard not to laugh.

'Yeah, Heero's in danger right now... so, what do you get?', Duo added. Relena suddenly got all serious.

Quatre pouted and rubbed his sore shoulder, 'Ouch, sorry... but I can't help it! You guys looked so funny looking like that and talking altogether... when just a few minutes ago you're as serious as a lion-', Quatre caghed as he drew a long breath and released it, '-okay, now we know Heero's been captured. But we also knew their hiding place... and oop, let me finish... we got a problem here...'

Trowa frowned, 'What's the matter?'

'I had used the Winner tracking system during the transmission. I've checked the location through the database and...' , Quatre looked at Relena. She tensed. '-Relena, it was the military base we're supposed to have the conference! And the deadline... it was the day of the conference to be held!'

Wu Fei suddenly stood up to pay attention. 'Wha...? That's impossible!', gasped Relena.

'So, it will be easy for them to attack the conference. Nobody would have realized the terrorist was there...', mused Duo.

'B-but, the place was heavily guarded...', Relena reasoned.

'Then, it must've been inside job... I was a bit surprised when someone suggested it. We probably had a spy with us. And since it's heavily guarded, we certainly couldn't just rush in to save him. During this time, they would be very alert. It'll be harder for us to infiltrate the base-' , said Trowa. Everyone went quiet. Relena sat on her chair, dumbfounded and depressed. Duo went beside her to give comfort.

'I'm sorry...' she cried.

 _Huh,_ Duo shrugged, 'Well, I...um?'

'-I'm sorry, Heero... You meant well, that time...', Relena whispered to herself, amidst all her tears. Duo looked sympathetically at Relena.

'Don't worry. Heero would be just fine. You'll see-', he said later as he patted her. Relena turned towards him and tried to smile but couldn't. Duo saw this and asked, 'What is it?'

Relena's eyes watered as she spoke, 'Just now as that terrorist leader is addressed me, Heero woke up and mouthed something to me...'

'Huh? Did he... what did he say-?', asked Duo being curious. It's particularly fun to catch Heero doing the  _lover's_ exchange-

'He said... 'Don't bother with me...' ', she said slowly, breaking his imagination. Duo wanted to swear!  _That idiot..._

Duo shook his head, 'That stupid Heero. What a thing to say to his girl. I really should have thought him that lesson some more...'

'Huh?', gasped Relena as Duo shrugged it off. Trowa overheard the conversation and sighed, '-he always wants to do everything himself. Now he's been captured and still doesn't want to trouble us... idiot-'

'Yeah... idiot who go twisting his leg manually than just go to the hospital to fix it...', mumbled Duo angrily. Quatre suddenly stood up and called everyone together. 'Guys, I've got an idea. Since we cannot approach that place on other times prior to the conference, we're doing it right at the same time it started. They won't notice us then and it'll be easier to sneak around. And Relena... can you help us?'

Relena stared at Quatre questioningly. 'Me? What can I do to help-?', she started to say as Quatre held her arm reassuringly. 'We can use you to sneak in there and find Heero! They won't expect you to do anything and... I mean-', he explained as Relena started to looked doubtful, '-The place's heavily guarded! If we were to save him certainly we needed a mole to break in there...'

Relena shook her head. 'NO! I don't know anything and beside I shouldn't-'

Duo cut in, 'Forget your Peacecraft policies right now... Heero needs your help! Besides, you'll know how to defend yourself...', he said as he started to smirk. 'We'll teach you eveything-'

'But... ', gasped Relena as Trowa patted her shoulders lightly.

'Don't worry... we'll teach you everything ...', Trowa added, reassuringly. Relena looked at Trowa, Duo, Quatre and Wu Fei, whom she knew had not really agreed to her total pacifism theory. She sighed and looked at them again, 'You really want me to do this?'

'Yes..', said Quatre exasperately. She immediately went out to get the telephone. The others followed her. She picked up the phone as the others arrived beside her, 'Then I want four of you to follow  _my_ plan. I can't infiltrate the base without any help! What if I get caught-wait a minute-umm, Lady Une, is that you-umm, it's important-yes, I would like you to come here-ahh, and bring Noin and Sally too-yes-oh, thank you-I'll be waiting.', she said finally as Relena replaced the telephone receiver back on the stand.

Trowa and the others listened patiently as Relena explained her plan. 'I agreed on your suggestion, Quatre. I'll do it for Heero. But, I can't do it like you proposed... too risky..'

'But Relena, they would certainly recognize us if we infiltrate them directly. Look at us... we're like so easy to recognize. They certainly would suspect something if we're gone during the conference...', said Duo, frantically showing off his long braided hair to emphasize.

'That's why I called Lady Une...', Relena said as Wu Fei finished her sentence, 'To help get us in posing as Preventers, isn't it?' Relena nodded as Lady Une, Noin, Sally and Dorothy arrived. 'We came as soon as you called-', said the woman as she glanced towards Dorothy, '-umm, Miss Catalonia was there when I received your call. She also liked to help you, Miss Relena ', said Lady Une. Relena nodded as Quatre told them about the situation at hand and started planning what to do...


	5. Chapter 5

The former OZ officer nodded fervently as all the plans were unravelled before her. 'That's it then is it? You want me to round up several teenagers to pose as Preventers cadets-?', asked Sally as Quatre nodded.

'Yes and make it more than ten so that should five person were later be missing, we won't be found out. Also, find a person to pose as Relena.', he said pressingly.

Noin nodded as Lady Une kept quiet. 'Hmm, okay. Even if our Preventer group isn't  _that_  strong yet, outsiders won't suspect if we brought along our  _cadets_.', she mused as Lady Une turned towards Relena to talk to her.

'Umm, Lady Une...', Quatre said as Lady Une paused in the middle of her conversation, 'Yes..?'

'Can I ask your help to watch over the people on the conference...? I suspected some of their people will be in that conference hall-', he asked as Lady Une shrugged. 'That should be expected. It was my duty after all to ensure nothing deter our plans for peace...'

'Thanks-', Quatre said halfheartedly. Dorothy pat his shoulder, 'Don't worry. Noin and Sally will be there also to monitor the proceed. I too will help on this. I'll stay with the fake Relena and do the talking...', she said and winked. Quatre smiled, 'So all that's left is to train Relena...', he said as Noin hurriedly walked beside Relena.

'Did you really want to do this, Miss Relena? Are you sure-?', she asked out of concern as Relena held her hand to assure her. 'Don't worry, Noin. Just this once, I'm willing to take the risk for Heero...and I won't spill any blood. If my brother was here, I'm sure he'll understand-'

Noin tried hard to convince herself that Relena was right. 'Okay, but be careful!', she said again as Relena nodded. With that, they continued their discussion.

XXX

CLASH-!

Heero was thrown to the side. Blood trickled from the side of his mouth. Heero spat some blood.

'Just kill me! Nothing you can do to me will make me talk!', he shouted in retailation as he fought the painful sensation on his body. Briggs continued to kick him. His eyes were burning with rage and madness.

'Tell me-! Wait! You certainly must know the whereabouts of the Gundam scientists! They would also of value to me. If you won't give up your gundams, then... give up THEIR locations instead so that you will be freed!', he shouted. Heero spat in disgust.

'Like hell I would! Not only you want the five Gundams, you want to make more of it! Hah, too bad because they're no longer on this world! They're DEAD!'

Suddenly the leader almost sneer at the statement. 'A pity then but who cares? I still have you. Soon you will give me the information I want and I will achieve my vision! No one will be able to stop us again!', he cried as the man laughed maniacally.

'Hmph, you're crazy-! Tthere's no way you'll win! We will stop you regardless of the aftermath!', Heero exclaimed as he suddenly tackled Briggs. Briggs fell backwards and hit the pipes nearby. Heero in other hand, fell to the floor. The effort of tackling the enemy while being tied up and injured drained much of his energy. He passed out. Briggs rose from his fall and angrily kicked Heero's limp body. His injured forehead was bleeding profusely.

'Damn you! How I yearn the day when I can kill you with my bare hands!', shouted the man.

XXX

Meanwhile, at the Darlian's estate, everyone was very busy. The most, was Relena, who one minute, busily discussing ESUN and the rescue plans with Quatre, battle and infiltration skill with Trowa and other minute and finally, some  _ **extra super**  necessary _skills from Duo and Wu Fei. Well, this last  _training_ , had encountered quite a lot of argument especially between Relena and Wu Fei, with Duo being the referee. As in the middle of their session... the main issue of the argument came about!

Relena glared unbelievingly towards Duo, 'Hey, does that mean I had to learn how to fight?', she said. Duo nodded vigorously, 'Yeah, you'll need to defend yourself. And no complaining! You're part of the team!'

'But is teaching me to pilot a jetplane's necessary?', Relena added sarcastically. Wu Fei said coldly, 'We'd never know what would happen later. Better get ready for any kind of unsuspected incidents...'

'Aaah, Relena-? It's just this time? Please...', Duo asked sweetly. Relena eventually smiled at her good friend as she relented. Somehow it felt that being their was not dreadfull either!  _'Ok... But if Heero asked about this, I'll tell him you talked me into piloting jetplanes...'_

_Duo grinned, 'Ok...', he said as he crossed his hands._

Alas, everything worked fine during those ten days, with some rather amusing happenings throughout. Certainly, everyone was tense as what future outcome will befall them the next day.

XXX

Ten days later...

Quatre checked his gun and artillery as the other also prepared themselves for the conference. As they waited for their fellow Preventers to arrive, Trowa called them together. He gave all four of them a communicator device.

Trowa smiled, 'These are the devices which we'll used to communicate with each other. It has two functions; one as a walkie talkie and another as a beeper. And also with these, we can easily communicate with Lady Une and the others freely. I had adjusted them to their commnication frequencies. Got that?'

Everyone nodded as Trowa turned towards Relena, 'There was actually five of these devices at first since I had planned to have all five of us have it, but I had made another one for you Relena...', he said as he got another device from his pocket, 'and this was Heero's... you'll keep it for him, will you?'

Relena took it and put it in her pocket, 'I will...'

Then Duo approached Relena, 'Hey, Relena. How about braiding your hair? It'll be easier to move around...', he said as he started to braid Relena's hair. She pulled away, 'All right already... I'll do it myself! You don't have to do it for me...', she said grinning as she started to untie her hair.

But Duo insisted and did it anyway much to her disapprovement. ' I have to make sure it looked right or else Heero will kill me...', Duo argued as Trowa chuckled. 'Duo, since when had you become Relena's personal stylist?', he said and laughed.

Duo grinned mischievously. 'Ooh? Do you want me to braid your hair too? But since your hair is extra longer in front, how about I braided it?', he snickered back as Trowa was taken aback, looking horrified. Seeing the look on his face, Relena, Quatre, Duo and Wu Fei laughed. Relena and Quatre snorted aloud as they started to imagine how Trowa would look with a braid in front. It was so hilarious that they can't stop laughing. 'I wonder how Heero would react if he's here too...', she said and giggled.

Trowa started to protest at this display of mirth at his expense but Duo stopped him, 'Let them laugh. I never seen them so lively like this since the end of the war...' Trowa agreed. Then the five of them were taken by surprise as someone knocked the door suddenly. All of them turned towards the entrance; and saw the young lady called Dorothy Catalonia, leaning by the door.

'Are you done yet? We're waiting outside...', she said as she sauntered out, '..and I'd suggest all of you to wear shades, the others wear it too...'

'Right...!', said Duo excitedly. The others grinned at him.

Outside, Sally waited for them in the car. Pargan was also there with another car. 'Hurry up, our air craft is over the hill...' she said as she urged them into the first car.

Quatre stayed behind. 'Go on, I'll catch up with you later. I'm gonna take Wing Zero!', he said as he gestured towards the others. Trowa closed the door, understood and lowered down the window to speak to him.

'Are you sure? Do you think it was overestimating-', he started to say as Quatre reasoned, 'The enemy probably have mobile suit with them. We can't afford not to bring it. Remember that place was an old OZ base! There maybe some MS still functioning over there! And anyway, Zero's the only one that had flight mode...', he said as he went after the second car, 'Heero told me where he hid it, not long ago. I already made it to look like an ordinary air freighter! Sorry for not telling!', he shouted as he jumped into the car. Both cars started to move. Trowa showed a thumbs up to Quatre as they departed...


End file.
